CD thanks OS for answering his questions and especially for giving the case of the sandpiper; "such little facts are my delight". [See 6253.]

Transcription

Down. | Bromley. | Kent. S.E.

June 23d

My dear Sir

I thank you most sincerely for the great trouble, which
you have taken in answering my questions.— Your answers
are all perfectly clear & distinct.— I am very glad
indeed to hear of the case of the Sandpiper— such little
facts are my delight. It will go well with the F. Water
Ancylus attached to a Dyticus, & the Balani attached to a
Flamingo's feet.—

See the first enclosure to the letter from Osbert Salvin, 20 June
1868.

+

f2 6258a.f2

In Origin, p. 386, CD remarked that Charles Lyell had told him of
a Dyticus (or Dytiscus: a water-beetle) caught with an Ancylus
(a freshwater shell like a limpet) adhering to it. In his letter of
14 August 1863 (Correspondence vol. 11), Robert Swinhoe had written to
CD of a flamingo that had its legs covered with barnacles. CD was
interested in possible vectors for the distribution of organisms.